Report: Ravens LB Ray Lewis received banned substance while recovering from injury this season

According to a Sports Illustrated[1] report, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis[2] appears to have used a banned substance to help him recover from a torn triceps earlier this season.

Almost immediately after Lewis’ injury in October, a company called Sports With Alternatives to Steroids (S.W.A.T.S.) sent Lewis a number of items, including a deer-antler spray that contains IGF-1. That substance is banned by the NFL.

S.W.A.T.S. owner Mitch Ross recorded a phone conversation with Lewis hours after the player’s Oct. 14 injury. In the conversation, Ross explains to Lewis how to use the spray (under the tongue).

According to the SI story:

Ross prescribed a deluxe program, including holographic stickers on the right elbow; copious quantities of the powder additive; sleeping in front of a beam-ray light programmed with frequencies for tissue regeneration and pain relief; drinking negatively charged water; a 10-per-day regimen of the deer-antler pills that will “rebuild your brain via your small intestines” (and which Lewis said he hadn’t been taking, then swallowed four during the conversation); and spritzes of deer-antler velvet extract (the Ultimate Spray) every two hours.

Also from the story:

Toward the end of the talk, Lewis asked Ross to “just pile me up and just send me everything you got, because I got to get back on this this week.”

Asked about his relationship with the company, Lewis tried to downplay it, although he acknowledged asking for “some more of the regular stuff” after his injury.

Said Lewis, shortly before ending the interview: “I think a lot of things helped me.”

Lewis was asked about the story during Tuesday’s Super Bowl[3] media day and had little to say.

“Two years ago that was the same report,” Lewis said. “I wouldn’t give that report or him any of my press. He’s not worthy of that. Next question.”